Twelve high-growth ambitious companies have started the ISE’s 2017 IPOready programme, which will equip them with the capital raising, investor relations and management skills needed for a successful IPO.
Joe Barrett, Chief Operations Officer, Applegreen speaks at the IPOready Induction Day at the ISE
Participants include 26 CEOs, CFOs and COOs from technology, financial services, medtech and engineering sectors across the island of Ireland
Programme participants include 26 CEOs, CFOs and COOs who will benefit from a 15-month programme of structured support to develop their ability to attract capital from domestic and international investors and scale their businesses. The companies come from a wide range of sectors including technology, financial services, medtech and engineering sectors across the island of Ireland.
First IPOready graduates raised over €120 million and created over 600 jobs
The 2017 programme, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), builds on the success of the initial IPOready programme, from which a group of 9 high-growth, high-potential Irish companies graduated last year. These IPOready graduates have raised over €120 million in debt and equity financing and created over 600 jobs since completing the programme.
"IPOready is designed to deliver the knowledge and skillset required to raise strategic finance" - Orla O'Gorman, IPOready Programme Director, ISE
Orla O’Gorman, Head of Equity at the ISE and IPOready Programme Director, said: “We are delighted to welcome 12 exciting new ambitious companies to our IPOready programme. A key challenge for Ireland is to enable companies which have the ambition and the potential to be in a position to access capital markets to raise permanent financing to scale their business.
IPOready is designed to address that challenge by delivering the knowledge and skillset required to raise strategic finance. The graduate companies from our inaugural programme went on to raise over €120m in debt and equity financing and create over 600 new jobs and I look forward to seeing our new participants achieve similar success.”
IPOready programme features
- A major new feature of the 2017 programme is that ISIF, the Irish State’s €8bn sovereign development fund, has joined as a programme partner to provide each participating company with one-to-one interaction with their investment team and to assess potential investments in the companies.
- IPOready provides extensive support over 15 months to prepare successful applicants for the requirements of raising strategic finance and attracting investment from domestic and international investors.
- It also includes mentoring and presentations from leaders of ISE-quoted companies, senior ISE executives, corporate finance experts, entrepreneurs, investment practitioners, legal, communications and investor relations advisors.
- The programme offers opportunities to showcase participant companies to domestic and international investors, including a module meeting investors, advisors and other market participants in New York.
"Being a plc has brought many benefits to Applegreen" - Joe Barrett, COO, Applegreen plc
Joe Barrett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Applegreen, which listed on the ISE in 2015, said: “Being a plc has brought many benefits to Applegreen. The Irish Stock Exchange is an excellent shop window for Irish companies looking to attract the world’s investors and we have seen our profile and standing rise with our stakeholders since listing on the ISE. It was a pleasure to share our experience with the 2017 IPOready participants and see the interest and ambition from the companies in accessing public markets as a means to raise capital and accelerate their growth.”
"IPOready helped Netwatch craft an equity pitch that really spoke to potential investors" - David Walsh, CEO and co-founder of Netwatch
David Walsh, CEO and co-founder of IPOready graduate company Netwatch said “IPOready helped Netwatch craft an equity pitch that really spoke to potential investors and this was very beneficial when we were raising significant capital. I’d like to wish the 2017 IPOready participants the very best of luck on the programme. They are about to embark on a wonderful journey and I look forward to watching their progress.”
Notes to Editors
The programme is being delivered in 3 phases over 15 months:
Phase 1 – Getting your company investment ready
Phase 2 – Understanding sources of finance and fund raising process
Phase 3 – Attracting investors, networking and accessing the equity market
